Local Sports

Wiggins qualifies two, gets third wrestler added to state field

By Brandon Boles

Fort Morgan Times

Posted:
02/10/2018 10:52:27 PM MST

Marc Barkdoll of Wiggins (top) flattens Gavin Graham of Highland on the mat to win by fall in their match in the 2A Region 3 tournament on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

STERLING — Cael Croissant and Marc Barkdoll led the Wiggins Tigers all season long in the wrestling season. They would do so again in the 2A Region 3 tournament and qualified for the state tournament over the weekend.

Barkdoll faced Gavin Graham of Highland at 106 pounds to start his run. An early takedown put him in front, but his was his second takedown later in the period that led to his win by fall at the 1:46 mark. Things would be much quicker for Croissant, who scored a takedown just seconds into his match with Elvis Guy of Akron and quickly went on to win by fall in 22 seconds.

When the two returned to the mats on Saturday in Sterling, they came out strong and had no trouble reaching the championship match. Barkdoll scored early against Brody Despard and went on to win by fall late in the second period to reach the finals. Also scoring often was Croissant against Jaydon Castillo of Burlington. He would not be able to sink the pin, but his work led to a 17-1 technical fall victory in the semifinals.

Both wrestlers would go on to face two higher-ranked wrestlers from the Wray Eagles in the finals. Barkdoll would match up with Cole Rockwell and Croissant faced Junior Arambula Saturday evening. The wrestlers from Wray proved to be tough as Rockwell defeated Barkdoll by fall in the second period and Arambula won a 10-3 decision over Croissant.

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For the rest of the team, they would shine early in the tournament, and one would find out that he would be going to the Pepsi Center on Sunday.

Devon Harshman was the lone wrestler that did not compete on Friday for the Tigers. With two byes at 195 pounds, he was slotted into the semifinals with Karson Bean of Lyons. Bean would get the win by fall in the first period. In the consolation semifinals, Harshman lost to Taylor Scott of Burlington by fall early in the third period, but turned things around with a pin late in the first period against Jacob Houhton of Sedgwick County/Fleming to finish in fifth place.

Bano Villarreal of Wiggins (top) rolls Josue Roacho of Yuma onto his back to get the win by fall in the second period on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

Cayden Lynch of Yuma would finish in fourth place, and since he and Harshman did not meet earlier in the tournament, the two would face off in a wrestle-back match for the final bid to state. The match would go the distance with Lynch getting the upper hand in a 4-0 decision win, knocking Harshman out of the state tournament.

On Sunday, Wiggins High School announced that Harshman would be added to the field in the state tournament at 195 pounds due to one of the regional tournaments only having three wrestlers in their bracket over the weekend. Out of the three wrestlers that finished in fifth place in regionals, Harshman had the best overall record, giving him the nod to go.

The other two wrestlers to reach the fifth-place match for Wiggins were Brynden Wilson and Bano Villarreal.

Wilson lost his first match of the tournament on Friday by fall in the third period, but two straight wins by fall in the consolation bracket advanced him to the semifinals. He would lose to Jesus Trejo of Holyoke in overtime to move to the fifth-place match and bounced back to defeat David Gardner of Lyons by decision 11-10. Trejo would finish in fourth place, preventing Wilson from having the chance to wrestle back for a state bid.

For Villarreal at 285 pounds, he began Friday with a win by fall over Josue Roacho of Yuma in the second period to reach the semifinals. It would end up being his lone win as he lost by fall twice and in double-overtime in the consolation semifinals to finish in sixth place.

Alex Hishinuma was the final wrestler to compete for Wiggins and went 0-2 at 120 pounds. The Tigers finished eighth in the team standings with 69.5 points.

Croissant returns to the state tournament for the third time in four years and Barkdoll will make his second appearance this week for the Tigers. The 2018 state wrestling tournament will take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

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